Compensation and benefits specialists are top of the pile when it comes to specialist salaries, receiving £50,000 – up to 16% more than the average salary for a senior manager, who earns £43,272.

Recruitment managers and employee relations managers received an average salary of £45,000, while personnel professionals working as internal consultants on projects picked up a cheque of £48,750 – 13% above the average HR salary. Health and safety specialists were -7.6% below average.

The CIPD believes the latest figures reflect the challenges faced by organisations to overcome skills shortages.

Charles Cotton, reward adviser at the CIPD, said: “Skills shortages and the need for continuous change within organisations are forcing employers to increasingly recognise the strategic importance of learning and development. This is being reflected in the increased salaries that many learning, training and development specialists now receive.

“Many organisations are now using learning and development to allow internal staff to fill posts, and appointing people who have the potential to grow, but who currently don’t have all that’s required in response to these problems. But for this to work effectively, learning, training and development professionals need to be sufficiently rewarded,” he added.